Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Over-65s are 37% of the population. The town, home to 3,649 people, lies in South Glamorgan, Wales.
Cowbridge’s strongest is health: 3.9% in bad or very bad health, 18.8% disabled. Overall, Cowbridge earns an A−: better than 78% of UK towns, and #1 of 9 in South Glamorgan. Jobs & income is another plus — households earn a mean £56,812 a year, and 1.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. What holds it back is cost of living (D): a typical home costs £445,000 and rent runs £982 a month. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B− for walkability and B for hazard risk.
Figures: health, Census 2021 (the grade adjusts for age) · income, ONS · claimants, DWP · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Natural Resources Wales.
This town's Health Grade uses ONS's small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy for 2019 to 2023, and two Census 2021 measures, bad health and disability, adjusted for age. English towns' grades also use OHID's small-area early deaths, hospital admissions and child obesity, which OHID publishes for England only.
The 3 things Cowbridge does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Wales), ordered by how far Cowbridge is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 90 buildings inside Cowbridge’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 2 scheduled monuments.
20% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 6 old photos and postcards going back to 1820.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Cowbridge.
People aged 15 to 24 make up 7.5% of the town, below South Glamorgan’s towns (16%) and Wales’s towns (12%) alike. Children are 14% of the town. Cowbridge has a median age of 54.8 years. Graduates make up half of adults.
53% women, 47% men
About 87 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Cowbridge | South Glamorgan | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 7.5% | 16% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 16% | 27% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 23% | 26% |
| 65+ | 37% | 16% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 12% | 16% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.1% | 4.3% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 12% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 50% | 39% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · South Glamorgan and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Every one of them is shown below. Between them, two primaries teach 464 pupils in Cowbridge.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Y Bontfaen PrimaryLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 269 | – |
| Ysgol Iolo MorganwgLargest Welsh-medium schoolPrimary | Primary | 195 | – |
2 GP practices serve the town. The nearest A&E to Cowbridge is Princess of Wales Hospital, 6.5 miles away. Of the 15 towns in South Glamorgan, Cowbridge has the second-smallest share in bad or very bad health: 3.9%. At the census, 19% of people here had a disability, about level with South Glamorgan’s towns (19%) and below Wales’s towns (22%).
| Census 2021 | Cowbridge | South Glamorgan | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 81% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.9% | 6% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 19% | 19% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Because the census answers ignore age, a younger population lifts them; that is why the Health Grade is built on age-adjusted measures like life expectancy.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Cadw’s list names 90 listed buildings in Cowbridge: 2 Grade I, 6 Grade II*. No town in South Glamorgan has more listed buildings for its size than Cowbridge. The town’s listed buildings include the Church of St John the Baptist, Grade I. 20% of its homes were built before 1919, between South Glamorgan’s towns (12%) and Wales’s towns (27%).
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Cowbridge is the most expensive of the 9 towns in South Glamorgan: its median sale is £445,000. Social housing holds 6% of households, lower than both South Glamorgan’s towns (16%) and Wales’s towns (18%). Renting privately is how 14% of households live.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £550,000 | 75 |
| Semi-detached | £345,000 | 47 |
| Terraced | £305,000 | 29 |
| Flat or maisonette | £405,000 | 20 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Violence and sexual offences made up 41% of the total. The 12 months to August 2026 brought 126 recorded crimes inside Cowbridge’s built-up area, and 22 reports of anti-social behaviour. Homes see 7.1 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year. Among the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Cowbridge has less crime per resident than just over four fifths of them.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 45% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 84% of commuters went by car. 12% of commuters who live in Cowbridge also work there. Home was the main workplace for 45% of workers at the census.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Cowbridge. Best known first.
Castle · CadwSt Quintin's Castle100 m outside town, to the southwest
Castle · CadwOld Beaupre Castle2.1 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumCowbridge & District Museumin townMuseumMuseumSouth Wales Aviation Museum3.8 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumSouth Wales Aviation Musuem3.8 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
90 listed buildings in Cowbridge, 2 of them Grade I.
Church of St John the Baptist: Photo: cowbridgeguide.co.uk · CC BY 3.0 · Church of the Holy Cross: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Llanblethian Castle: Photo: cowbridgeguide.co.uk · CC BY 3.0 · The Bear Hotel: Photo: Ben Brooksbank · CC BY-SA 2.0
9 notable people were born in Cowbridge.
William Cadogan: Mezzotint by William Dickinson, 1772, after Robert Edge Pine, 1769, CC BY 4.0 · Anneka Rice: User:JohnArmagh, Public domain · William Howels: William Say, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowbridge | 3,649 | — | A− | D | A− | A |
| Eglwys-Brewis | 3,300 | 3.4 | B− | B+ | B− | C+ |
| Boverton | 2,740 | 3.7 | B− | C+ | B | B− |
| Llanharry | 3,747 | 3.7 | C+ | C+ | B | C+ |
| Llantwit Major | 5,348 | 3.9 | B− | C+ | B | B− |
| St Athan | 1,594 | 4.2 | — | C | C+ | C+ |
| Pencoed | 9,119 | 4.9 | C | B− | C+ | C− |
| Llanharan and Brynna | 8,106 | 5.1 | C− | C | B− | C |
St Athan has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
90 on Cadw’s list, 2 of them Grade I and 6 Grade II*. That is 10.1 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I buildings include Church of St John the Baptist. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £445,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £405,000, terraced houses £305,000, semi-detached houses £345,000 and detached houses £550,000.
Town in South Glamorgan, Wales
Cowbridge is a built-up area of 3,649 people, in the Vale of Glamorgan council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Cadw listed buildings, scheduled monuments and registered historic parks and gardens via DataMapWales, October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.